Victoria Gold ore slide not the first this year: officials [Video]

WHITEHORSE –

A recent slide of ore at a gold mine in central Yukon was the second such failure this year, the territorial government said.

That has one environmental group wondering if the previous problems at the heap-leach facility at Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine should have been a warning sign, while the government waits to find out if the latest slide released cyanide into nearby creeks.

Work was stopped at the mine north of Mayo on Monday when the company announced the failure of its heap-leach pad, part of the system that uses a cyanide solution to extract gold from ore.

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Yukon’s director of mineral resources, Kelly Constable, said Friday that the mine’s ore stockpile was in a series of “benches” and this week’s collapse was a “multi-bench failure, meaning it was significant in size.”

“The company moved quickly following the slide to build dams to hold back contaminated water released from …